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GRANTSVILLE — A Grantsville couple was arrested on a flight home from England Sunday after police say the couple engaged in the sexual abuse of a 15-year-old girl over a period of months.
Michael Mahoney, 57, and Christina Mahoney, 33, were arrested and booked into the Tooele County Jail late Sunday night while on their way home from a visit to the U.K. where the pair has family, jail records state.
The Mahoneys were booked on suspicion of various counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, sexual exploitation of a minor and dealing in materials harmful to a minor, records show. Michael Mahoney was also arrested in connection with enticing a minor by internet or text, and Christina Mahoney with violating a protective order.
Over a year ago, in November 2017, the husband touched the then-14-year-old girl’s genitals underneath her clothing, jail records state. About four months later, in March, the couple and the minor had sex together, according to jail records.
Police reported at least five other separate instances involving sexual activity with the minor between March 2018 and July 2018. The wife said she was occasionally the “watch out” while her husband and the girl, who had since turned 15, engaged in sex, jail records state.
Police found text messages on the minor’s cellphone that detailed past sexual encounters with the couple, as well as messages from the husband with descriptions of explicit things he would like to do to the victim, jail records show.
The husband also received at least two videos of the minor engaging in sexual acts and showed the girl his genitals during a video chat, which another 15-year-old girl witnessed, jail records state.
The wife received nude photos of the girl, some of which she said she saved and eventually deleted, according to jail records. She also said the 15-year-old video chatted with the couple from a school bathroom while the couple had sex, records state.
A protective order listing the minor and the minor’s mother as protected persons was filed against Christina Mahoney in July, but Mahoney violated the order multiple times, according to jail records.
In November 2018, 52 messages were sent from a number belonging to Christina Mahoney to the 15-year-old in a group message that included the woman's husband, according to jail records. These varied in nature from sexual to threatening: She told the girl that she "did not like her parents and could kill them," records show.
Christina Mahoney also sent the girl two more messages after the teen obtained a separate phone and reached out to her, jail records show.
The minor’s mother also received six phone calls from a phone number belonging to Christina Mahoney, with one message stating that she would “take out” the mother if she didn’t stop calling her, jail records state. According to phone records, however, the mother never called Christina.
Michael Mahoney previously pleaded guilty of unlawful sexual activity with a minor 18 years prior in 2000.
